The president and board chairman of the city-funded nonprofit Philadelphia Safe and Sound testified yesterday that they were forced by Mayor Street and his senior aides to spend an extra $21 million that they knew did not exist in the city budget. It's those expenditures that have forced Safe and Sound to cancel dozens of programs in recent weeks. You can find copies of Safe and Sound's testimony online here and here. Insiders say......

Around 2AM yesterday, Joseph Kelly Sr. was driving along the Vine Street Expressway when he saw a homeless man in a wheelchair marooned on the median. He pulled over and crossed three lanes on foot to try to help the man across the street. As one car slowed down to let them pass, another struck that vehicle and then ran into Kelly and the other man, killing them both. A 17-year-old male knocked on the......

The Inquirer has a nice little article (and a video) about the super-cool Girls Rock Philly day camp, which is at Girard College this week. Apparently every summer Senator Arlen Specter likes to visit all 67 counties in Pennsylvania and have a little Q&A session. Here's how the trip's going this year. Another annual ritual in PA is a SEPTA bus tour for Philly assistant DAs of some high crime city neighborhoods. This year......

Or, at least, not putting up any new ones for now. In a victory for Philadelphians and all Americans, on Friday the National Park Service announced that a proposal to enclose Independence Hall within a security fence has been scrapped [Philly.com]. If realized, the plan would have cut Independence Square in half with a six-foot tall black iron barricade, hypocritically restricting access to one of the world's most important symbols of freedom. After releasing the......

- Senator Arlen Specter is taking the federal administration to task for leaving Congress out of the loop - and suggesting that a "constitutional confrontation" is on the horizon. (Hey, who needs both checks and balances anyway?) In a letter to Dick Cheney, Specter allegedly makes note of recent domestic spying activity and a congressional raid by the FBI. Phillyist finds it refreshing that our elected officials are protecting our rights in the battle......

13-year-old Naiym Muhammed is being charged as an adult in the Sunday fire in Germantown that killed a 17-year-old girl and critically injured her mother. The charges against Muhammed include murder, arson, conspiracy. More charges are expected. Police say the fire was set in retribution over a small debt.Some local Dems are finding it a little harder to support Bob Casey, Jr. in the up-coming primary. Both Casey and PA Governor Ed Rendell announced their......